


bad dream

by ryusekai



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, Sad but soft, Spoilers for Chapter 9, i just needed some good wholesome bonding moments between these two, slight spoilers from seteth and flayn's paralogue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-12 20:16:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20570255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryusekai/pseuds/ryusekai
Summary: byleth keeps having nightmares and they keep getting more violent to the point which seteth comes to see how she’s fairing.





	bad dream

**Author's Note:**

> HELLO I'M BACK! i have 2-3 different setleth fic drafts in my documents rn so there's still so much more setleth content coming soon! i hope you like this one!

_ “It looks like I’m going to have to leave you now.” _

_ No no no, not again. _

This was the first time that Byleth felt like this, and she was scared. She grew weary ever since Jeralt had been murdered right in front of her eyes, something that she couldn’t even imagine happening. For as long as she could remember, Jeralt was always that authority figure to her. And now to suddenly have that ripped away, she didn’t know what to do. Byleth had shed tears for her father that day on the battlefield, and somehow, the tears had followed her to her solitude, and so did the flashbacks.

Death was just something fleeting for Byleth, something that people had reminded her countless of times that she was merciless as a mercenary and did not bat an eye at someone begging for her to spare their life. But this, this was different, she still had that stoic expression plastered on her face, but her heart kept panging, something that hasn’t happened before. And she hated it, she cursed fate, for there was nothing she could do, even now being blessed by the goddess.

Each and every night since then, Byleth could not sleep. She would wake up, her bed sheets drenched in her sweat and she lie awake, staring up at her ceiling wondering if Jeralt can see how much she has lost it. Of course, the walls of her room were the only ones to see her be at her most vulnerable, and she wanted to keep it that way. Byleth knew she had to keep this front up for as long as possible, or until her grieving was at an end.

Her apparent insomnia had led her to spend most of her nights on her desk, trying to focus on something else. Tonight, her desk was especially messy as she tried to sort through different paperwork that had been given to her by Lady Rhea, amongst others around the monastery. If she could just get her back into autopilot mode, everything would be back to normal. Hopefully. The pot of chamomile tea she had made had soon gone cold, hoping that remedies like that would help heal her ailments. Soon enough, Byleth rested her head on her desk, arms folded to try to make some comfort from the cold surface. As much as she did not want to fall asleep, this week had soon caught up to her.

_ “Dammit.” _ She uttered, trying to keep her eyes open, but to no avail.

But on this night was probably the worst of them all. It felt so real, and yet, she was frozen in time yet again, watching the same scene again and again. Byleth wanted to escape from this dream, this nightmare, but her body couldn’t move. All she could do was watch, and the guilt had set in. The weight on her shoulders from her inner conflict was bearing too much on her now, the nightmare getting more vivid and grotesque to the point that her imagination took a turn for the worse.

  
  


She could hear a faint voice calling out to her. It wasn’t Jeralt’s voice, as quickly as her nightmare came to fruition, it soon melted away as she slowly began to wake up. She could feel someone start to shake her forcefully, which helped her to snap out of it.

“Byleth, Byleth!” 

Byleth’s eyes suddenly opened wide, seeing the unknown person who had awoken her. Her head shot straight up as she was trying to still orient herself from her nightmare episode. She realized that the person in front of her was none other than Seteth.

“Byleth! Are you alright?” Seteth inquired, his voice a little shaky. Byleth nodded slowly, her eyes practically almost popping out of their sockets.

“You were screaming in your sleep…I was worried for your wellbeing so I rushed to check on you once I heard you, thankfully your door was unlocked...” Seteth had explained, noticing now that Byleth had a firm grip of his hand. His thumb rubbed softly against her hand as he tried to calm her down. Her grip soon became more relaxed, and so did her breathing. She looked at her hand in Seteth’s, the motion of him tracing little circles on her hand was therapeutic, almost entrancing.

“Was I, was I really screaming?” Byleth asked softly, sniffling slightly as she rubbed her nose. 

Seteth noticed her cheeks were stained with tears, all the more reason to be worried over her. The stoic, stone-faced, strong professor was at her most vulnerable, and it made his heart break. It reminded him of his darkest days, to the moment where he had lost someone dear to him as well. He knew that feeling all too well, but he did not want to make it about himself. No, he wanted to help Byleth recover as much as he could, but did not wish to divulge too much into his past at the time being.

“I’m sorry you have to see me like this.” Byleth said. She felt Seteth’s free hand wipe her cheek, his touch soft. She could feel his initial hesitation, but his touch was all the more comforting. It felt, familiar, somehow. A feeling of warmth, something that had been missing these past few days. She was quite surprised that this moment of intimacy was shared with him, the person that trusted her the least since the day she arrived at Garreg Mach. And yet, his presence made everything much better.

“Please, Byleth, don’t apologize. You must allow yourself to mourn and heal…” Seteth said softly, “if there is anything that you need, please let me know.” 

She nuzzled her cheek within the palm of his hand as her gaze met his. Byleth showed Seteth a mere smile, something that he hasn’t seen for some days, let alone being the reason why she was smiling. Her hand laid atop his as her smile grew soft, her eyes still a bit puffy from her tears.

“Thank you, Seteth… I do appreciate you being here, truly.” Byleth said warmly.

“Of course. Will you be able to go back to sleep for the night? You must at least get some sleep before your lectures tomorrow.” Seteth inquired, his hand in hers again.

She nodded in response, “Hopefully.” 

Byleth looked down at their hands intertwined with each others, she really did enjoy the feeling. She wanted to see this side of Seteth more often if she could, she felt a little greedy for wanting this much from him.

“Do you… could you, stay here with me until morning?” She asked, her voice trailed off towards the end. She could see his face get noticeably redder after she had asked. Byleth felt a little embarrassed for asking such a question to him, she thought she sounded like a child. She felt Seteth squeeze her hand once more, catching her off guard a bit. Her chest felt weird when she saw Seteth’s smile, it was certainly better than how she was feeling beforehand, but it was still foreign to her nonetheless.

“Very well, as you wish.” Seteth answered soothingly, smiling lightly at her.

Nothing more was said between the two after that, both fell asleep in a matter of minutes, still hand in hand.

...and the door still wide open.


End file.
